A recent study from the Institute for Cardiovascular Regeneration, Centre of Molecular Medicine, Frankfurt, Germany shows that “MicroRNA-34a regulates cardiac ageing and function.” This study was published in the 7 March 2013 issue of Nature byProf Dimmler, Boon, and others.

Given that: (1) cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide; (2) in India, in 2004, 14.6 lakhsdeaths (14% of total deaths) were due to ischemic heart disease; and (3) the global economic costspent in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in 2011 was little more than 10 billionUS dollars, there is an urgent need to find: (i) a way to induce regeneration of adult cardiomyocytes that were lost in Myocardial patients; (ii) a cheaper alternative to the existing expensive drugs; and (iii) a side-effect-free drug.